The Tuesday Review: Clearasil Superfruits Face Scrub

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have recently started using a new face scrub and this is it. I hadn't used anything from Clearasil in a while so I thought it would be good to see how things had moved on and give this ago.

Firstly, who doesn't love the girly pink packaging! The scrub itself is even pale pink which makes me very happy hahah. It comes out the tube very thick so I like to mix it in my hands with a bit of water first to make it easier to spread over my face. One of the things I love about this product is that it has just the right abrasiveness, the bits of scrub aren't so small that they don't do anything, but they aren't so big that it would make the scrub unsuitable for daily use. It lathers up very slightly which I personally like because I feel as if my face has been thoroughly washed when a product foams up.

The scent of this is fresh and fruity, but isn't very strong so don't be put off if you don't like the smell of raspberry and cranberry (although I personally love it). Just before starting to use this, I had a few breakouts, but this cleared them up in no time, and has helped to reduce scarring from previous spots.Ultimately, it has made my skin a lot clearer and has somewhat helped to control oil throughout the day too.

emma x

My Christmas Beauty Wishlist

So November arrived and with it came the excitement of Christmas! I for one am already super excited for all the beautiful decorations, cosy nights in and Christmas movies, not to mention all the new beauty releases! Today I'm going to be sharing some of the beauty items on my wishlist this year. For some of you it may seem ridiculously early to be doing this, but on the other hand I know that some of you will be starting your Christmas shopping already and therefore are in need of some inspiration.

1) Zoeva Makeup Brushes - I found it very hard to pick which ones I wanted the most, but I decided upon ones that I didn't have anything similar to at the moment. I chose the Brow Line Brush (322), Luxe Soft Crease Brush (221) and Concealer Buffer Brush (142). These are all quite high up on my list as I am in urgent need of makeup brushes; I currently only have one for foundation, one for powders, and one eyeshadow brush.

2) Rimmel Brow This Way Powder - I really want a brow powder as I think they are the best way to achieve really defined brows. I currently use a matte shade from the Naked 2 palette, but it isn't very convenient to take the whole palette away with me just for the brow colour. I thought it would be best to try a brow powder from the drugstore before splurging on a more expensive one, and this is the one that caught my eye due to its compact packaing.

3) Tresemme 32mm Curling Wand - Since my hair has started to get longer, my current wand, which has a much thinner barrel, isn't really suitable as I need a wider one. I don't curl my hair all that often so didn't want a curler that was too expensive so I picked out this one which can be found for £15-20. This will be great for creating big bouncy curls will hopefully help to add volume to my hair too.

4) Soap and Glory The Righteous Butter - As I have mentioned many times before, this is my all time favourite body butter! My current tub is running out so I put it on my Christmas list as I don't tend to buy bath products for myself. 

5) Ciate Nail Polish in Snow Globe - I saw a mini bottle of this as part of a set in TK Maxx and fell in love. It's a beautiful 'holographic flitter' top coat and looks stunning over pale coloured polishes for a wintery look. 

6) Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual - I have wanted this for so long but can never bring myself to actually buy it, so hopefully someone else will be kind enough to buy it for me. For some reason I have never been able to justify it when there is so much advice available for free on the internet, but I think this will be great for reading on winter days, when I don't want to be using technology all day. This has so many great reviews so I can't wait to see what all the hype is about.

7) Next Just Pink Perfume - This was my first ever perfume back when I was about 10 and it still remains my perfume of choice even now. It is the perfect mix of fruity and floral and basically just smells amazing! I'm very proud of myself that my favourite perfume is actually really cheap (£14), rather than a super expensive designer brand haha. My bottle has tragically just run out but I'm hoping I can survive until Christmas without it, although I do have a travel sized bottle stashed away for emergencies.

8) Zoe Sugg Girl Online - Not strictly a beauty item, but let's be honest, it's what Zoella's known for isn't it! I'm sure this will be on many people's wishlists this Christmas, if they haven't already bought it, and I am no different! I absolutely adore Zoe and have watched every single one of her videos so I can't wait to read this. 

9) The Body Shop Instablur Primer - My Benefit Porefessional Primer sample has finally run out after lasting a good 3 months, so before purchasing the full size bottle I wanted to try out a cheaper alternative. This one is quite reasonably priced, especially with The Body Shop's regular 40% off codes, and has some real rave reviews so I thought it would be a good one to try.

And there we have it. Let me know in the comments what's on your wishlist and if you'd like to see another, non-beauty, related wishlist.

emma x

The Tuesday Review: Maybelline Fit Me Concealer

Last month I used up yet another Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, and decided it was about time I tried a new one. I had been using the Collection one for a couple of years, without even considering other options so I was excited to see what else was out there. The Maybelline concealer caught my eye with its sleek packaging and fairly large shade selection for a drugstore brand.

The packaging is plastic, though it does have the appearance of glass, and has minimal text, making it look more sophisticated. It has a doe foot applicator, which I really like, however, the suction of the applicator seems to lead to a lot of concealer getting stuck around the screw part of the tube. I'm not sure why this is, but it is resulting in a fair amount of wastage which is quite frustrating.

I have the shade 20, which is a yellow toned mid nude kind of shade. I bought it when I was more tanned, so it is getting a bit dark for me now, but it fits my skin perfectly when I have a bit of fake tan on, especially since my skin is naturally very yellow. Compared to the Collection concealer, this is very runny, however it still offers great coverage. The thinner texture makes it easy to blend, but it does mean you have to work in thin layers, otherwise it won't set.

This is definitely more of a blemish concealer, rather than an under eye one because it isn't very brightening, however I do plan on getting a lighter colour for when I'm not so tanned, which may work as an under eye concealer when I have fake tan on as it will be lighter than my skin tone.

Have you tried this concealer before? What did you think of it?

emma x

ps. I made a twitter account, and would love it if you could follow me @bowsandbeautyx . There will be regular updates and previews to new posts, as well as personal tweets so you can get to know me better.

Hair Styling: Bits and Bobbles

First off, who likes the title of this post? I was very proud of it haha. Today I will be sharing with you my favourite hair styling tools, what I do with them, and why I like them.

The first thing I want to talk about is scrunchies. I like to use these at night or in the bath to get my hair out the way. I prefer these to hair bands as they are less damaging to the hair so are suitable for sleeping as they stop your hair from getting damaged from moving while you sleep.

The next item is hair bands. I always buy these from Primark as you get loads for just £1, and it includes a mixture of thinner and thicker ones. I also like these as they don't have any metal, which again makes them less damaging. I use these for playing sport and when I want to wear my hair up all day as they hold the style well.

Hair grips are an essential for every one and I like to buy the ones from Primark because they're so cheap. We all know that hair grips disappear to some sort of hair grip heaven, so you may as well buy the cheapest ones. I also love how well these ones match the colour of my hair, and they're the perfect size.

Decorated hair grips were something that I used to use basically every day a couple of years ago, and although I don't use them as frequently now, I still use them on occasion. When I'm wearing my hair up during the day I will sometimes use one to add a bit of interest, but most of the time I use them to pin back my fringe/front section of my hair. This keeps it out of my face, meaning I can work without constantly moving my hair out the way.

Next is my bun ring which I like to use to bulk up my bun a bit. My hair is very thin so putting this around my it gives the illusion that my bun is bigger. It also adds interest, and I really liked it in the summer as it made my hair look more summery.

Lastly, is these mini hair clips that I've mentioned on my blog before. I like to use these to clip back the front section of my hair to keep it out my face, and I personally have to use the small ones because my hair is so fine, but other people will probably need to use normal sized ones.

I hope you enjoyed this post and saw some new hair pieces that you want to try.

emma x